Zac Brown is Julie Powell’s husband and winemaker at Alderlea Vineyards in Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, BC. A “REAL” Vancouver Islander, Zac was raised in Coal Harbour, in the far north of the island. A 1994-95 career break from working in the global mining industry saw him learning to make wine in the Moravian Valley in the Czech Republic and ignited a passion for making wine. This passion was first explored as a garagiste making wine in a custom home cellar for over a decade before turning pro and teaming with his wife Julie Powell, to buy the Cowichan Valley’s Alderlea Vineyards, where he has been growing grapes and making nationally award-winning wines since 2017. Media Inquiries: alderleavineyards@shaw.ca | https://www.alderlea.ca/
What’s the ONE THING most unique, authentic, & memorable about your brand?
If there is one thing that differentiates Alderlea Vineyards, it’s the attention to detail that can be achieved by a husband, wife and vineyard dog team working at the 4000-case scale. We are the only full-time employees, so we know every aspect of our vineyard and winemaking intimately.
As an example, Julie runs the tractor and vineyard picking crew at harvest and I am running the crush pad. We can discuss picking the outside more sun-exposed rows of the Sauvignon Blanc first and I can divert this riper fruit to a bin for a couple hours of skin contact to pull rich flavours from the fruit before pressing. Julie knows the vineyard so well that she can direct the crew to pick those rows first and then bring in the less sun-exposed rows to go directly from the crusher to the press. This results in a leaner, more mineral and acid-structured component to create complex layers in the wine. You can’t do that with contract growers or hired gun vineyard crews.
Describe how and what you’d do with your winemaking career or winery business if you were not constrained.
The Answer is, we are doing it. We are making the amount, style and varieties of wine we dreamed of. We own the business and are 100% responsible for the artistic and commercial aspects of our wines & grape growing.
I think that shows in the wine’s quality and in our success. At the 2025 All Canadian Wine Championships, Canada’s oldest national wine competition, we were the top performing winery. This saw Alderlea winning 3 double gold, 2 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals. Our wines sell out and we maintain our focus on making “Island Wine for Island people”. While we love having visitors to the tasting room, our goal has always been to be the locals’ favourite winery. This allows us to craft wines that are perfectly matched with locally sourced and prepared foods such as Sockeye salmon (Pinot Noir), scallops (Sauvignon Blanc), Spot prawns (Pinot Gris) or Venison (Marechal Foch). This focus on local wine with local food allows us to avoid mundane global wine styles that are the domain of large-scale producers.
What is the One Wine most emblematic of your brand and/or winemaking style? Tell us its story.
That one wine would have to be our Ramato style Pinot Gris. Pinot Gris can be a bit “wet, white and forgettable” especially the Pinot Grigio variations. Ours however is not as it’s inspired by the Ramato style Pinot Gris of Fruili in Northern Italy. We do the traditional 24 hours of skin contact before pressing to impart more flavour and its renowned copper colour. However, ours is not merely an ersatz Friuli, it is heavily influenced by the very close proximity to the Salish Sea and our use of batonnage lees contact to give the wine its distinct mouthfeel and as a counterbalance to the vibrant Vancouver Island acidity. Read this wine review here.
Bonus Question: Why Winegrowing?
Winegrowing is the ultimate renaissance craft; you must have mastery and respect for the science, biochemistry, biology, horticulture and ecology, and be confident artistically. Wines that are purely technically correct often lack personality and artisanal wines without a foundation in and respect for science may be too technically flawed to achieve their full potential. It’s the most complex balancing act one can hope to achieve. All accomplished winegrowers are crazy enough to want to walk this highwire.